Responding to a Poem

The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window, by Joy Harjo was one of the poems that really jumped out at me. Since the first time I read it till now it has been stuck in my head. I think this poem was a way for Joy Harjo to speak out to women, and address issues in every woman’s life. The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor is every woman, and every woman’s desire to break away from her problems. The woman on the thirteenth floor wants away, maybe by death. She has kids, a mother, a father, and two ex husbands that tie her to this world. She wants to feel comfort and needed, the way a mother feels holding her new born child. This women seems to feel alone and miserable. But, like in every woman’s life she doesn’t jump away from reality. This woman picks herself back up and looks at the beauty in life hoping for a better tomorrow, as do all of us. This poem spoke to me. The first time I read this poem I liked it, but I didn’t feel any resemblance to it, now I do. We all have our good and bad times, and when you have your bad times you must pick yourself back up and try to make things better. This poem may seem like a story of a woman with no better intensions than to kill herself, but then restrains herself because of her three children, but to me its not. I find a far deeper purpose. This poem should speak to anyone who as felt close to the edge and turned back on hopes of making a better tomorrow.



The second poem I really enjoyed was Song of Napalm, by Bruce Weigl. It took quite a few times of reading for me to understand this poem, but I still have mixed theories. At first I thought this was maybe a soldier writing this poem about war flashbacks. I viewed this soldier as a good man who didn’t want to hurt anyone, someone who felt the pain of his decisions every day. Then I had the theory that he wasn’t a soldier but a victim of the war, maybe a villager. Seeing how Bruce dedicated this poem to his wife I feel like it had to have been a true story of some importance. Seeing how it is for his wife I don’t see how it would be of any importance if he was a soldier having flashbacks. That is how I got the theory of him being a part of the village and witnessing his wife’s death. I like this poem for the simple reason that it is good. It is written very well and it grabs my attention right away. I like the figurative speech and the way he gets you to see what he is saying. Either of my theories could be right or wrong, but I feel like they are both good. I know I could probably look it up and see what happened in his life but I’m afraid that might ruin my views, that I already like so much, of the poem.



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